Somehow, he always knew when to interrupt her thoughts. “I’m thinking that your upbringing may make it hard for you to understand what it’s like to be a woman in a male-dominated career.”
“How can you—”
“Wait, I wasn’t finished. I think this because you grew-up respecting your mom and her leadership. Many men don’t have that at such a young age, so even if they want to, even if they have to, taking direction from a woman is hard.”
He grinned. “So you’re saying I’m unique.”
She snorted. “In more ways than one. Your most unique quality is that you can put up with me.”
He chuckled. “There is that.” His smile suddenly left and the truck rolled to a stop in the middle of the road.
“What is it?”
He pointed to the left. “That’s where we were staging for the fire. It was right here where I saw the little girl in her family’s car.”
She looked around. They were in the middle of nowhere, the closest town miles away. They hadn’t seen another car since two roads back. She hoped that didn’t mean what it seemed to mean. “Are you sure this is the spot? I know it’s been five years, but this doesn’t appear to have been burned.”
He put his window down letting the fresh air in, which was much cooler than the Sonoran Desert. They could hear birds, but little else. It was peaceful.
“The fire didn’t reach here while I was working it. From what my team told me, it continued north.”
Copper stuck his nose between Garrett’s seat and the window.
For some reason the dog loved it when the truck windows were down. Supposedly that was normal. “And you never asked them about the community of shacks?”
He shook his head. “You’re the only one who knows what motivated me to risk my life that day. If the fire had jumped the break, which it could if the winds picked up in the right direction, then there’s another road about seven miles east as the crow flies that would have been the fallback position. After that was a full town.”
“Did the town burn?”
“No.”
If she had been seriously wounded trying to save another soldier, she would have to know if it had been worth it. Hell, even when she wasn’t injured and helped a soldier, she damn well made sure she found out if the man made it. “Okay, I had to face my fears in that shitty old mine. It’s time to face yours.”
His hands gripped the steering wheel like a man holds a grenade when the pin has been pulled, but he didn’t say a word.
“You said you never checked because you feared your sacrifice was in vain. What if it was? What if all those shacks are gone when we get there?”
“Eight.”
“Eight what?
Shacks.” He swallowed hard, his Adam’s Apple giving away his tension.
She wanted to help him like he’d helped her. She wasn’t as good at it, but she was learning. He had been both calm and at times commanding. “Okay, say all eight shacks are gone, burnt to cinders. What then? Will you give up on life? Will you stop working on your home? Will you kick me out?”
He snapped his head around to look at her. “No.”
She’d hoped she knew the answer, but it was reassuring to hear. “We would have never met if you didn’t try to save those buildings. You would have still been up here or out of state fighting wildfires, while I worked at Last Chance.” She felt the blood drain from her face. “I would have been alone in that mine.”
He let go of the steering wheel and pulled her to him. “Don’t even think about that.”
She took a deep breath, his comforting embrace always a balm to her ruptured psyche, but she could handle the “what if,” since it hadn’t actually happened. She pulled away. “I’m okay. It was just a thought. But it didn’t happen that way. Why? Because you needed to get away from up here, to start a new life. So whether those shacks are still there or not, has your life been a nightmare?”
“At first, yes, but I understand what you’re saying.” He hesitated, then he gave her a lopsided grin. “In other words, it doesn’t matter if they still stand or not.” He stepped on the brake and put the truck into reverse.
Oh, no. He wasn’t getting out of it that easy. She grabbed his arm. “Whoa there, cowboy. I need you to step back and bring out that brave firefighter I know is hiding somewhere in there.”
“Hiding? I’m not hiding. You just explained why this is a wasted trip.”
